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Once England's first-choice spinner - he has 167 wickets in 50 Tests - he ran into off-the-field troubles in 2013 and ended up leaving Sussex to join Essex on loan.

He must now look for what would be a fourth county - he started his career with Northamptonshire - and England's selection of Zafar Ansari for the forthcoming tour of the UAE shows how far down the national pecking order he has fallen.

He made the last of his half-century of Test appearances on the ill-fated Ashes Tour of 2013, taking a solitary wicket, and since then has seen the likes of Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and now Ansari overtake him in England's thoughts.

Panesar (second left) was once England's first-choice spinner - he has 167 wickets in 50 Tests

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Monty Panesar to go in search of his fourth county after being released by Essex